Had a dude in a pickup truck riding my ass in the left lane (I was also stuck behind someone so nothing I could do to let him by). He passed me on the right hanging out his window and flipping me off then cut off the guy in front of me. We all passed like 2 more cars and he switched back to the right lane and immediately got stuck behind someone else while me and the guy in front of me promptly passed them again.
Probably the stupidest bit of traffic I've ever been involved in.
Having a “smarter” car has made me a bit of an angrier driver.
My car has adaptive cruise control, so it automatically paces the vehicle in front of me at a predefined distance. I use it extensively on the highway, and I often have it set for a bit higher than most other drivers go. This means that I know how fast the vehicle in front of me is going and has been for the entire time they’re in front of me.
This has lead me to realize that most other drivers seem to unintentionally (or intentionally) drive in infuriating ways.
Most folks in the left lane don’t maintain a constant speed, even when the lane in front of them is clear. They often go just slightly faster than the speed of “prevailing traffic” - which means they slow down when passing vehicles (often as slow as 10mph under the speed limit), and speed up quite dramatically when vehicles do get tired of them and move to pass - very often blocking would-be passers.At best, I view these drivers to be inattentive. At worst, I envision them to be wannabe cops, enforcing their vision of highway traffic on others.
I wonder if they feel the same sense of satisfaction expressed in the above meme?I find having adaptive cruise control makes me less angry. I've just stopped caring if the car in front is going 2-3 mph slower than I want to travel at. I'll pass if there's room and if my turn is coming up I'll just pace behind them. I find I usually get stopped at the same lights as everybody anyway so it doesn't matter.
Oh, yeah, and it’s great for that.
The folks consistently going 2-3 mph slower than I want to go kind of have my respect. They have their own thing going.
But as my comment states, it’s the folks who vary +-20mph to maintain rolling roadblocks that I find so annoying.
I hate using it in medium to heavy traffic since the relative speed of who ever is in front of me and how much space is constantly changing. Even putting along exactly at the speed limit, you'll still hit trucks and slow weirdos and people forgetting what exit they're close to.
Not so much about comfort, but I can get 3-4mpg more by driving manually and planning my speed for multiple lanes and traffic patterns. If you keep your speed highly consistent, accelerate carefully, and let your speed wander down when going up hill, you can save even more, but some of that becomes annoying to other drivers.
Why do people take driving so personal? As long as it's safe why care
Because they're cowards who think they're safe sitting in a three ton fiberglass shell
There were actual studies done on it. In similar situations out in the open, people act completely differently than they do in cars. They think they're armored in those cheap things.
Lane braiders cause traffic jams and make them worse for everyone behind them.
I will switch to a lane knowing I can't pass all the time and speed up. I call it the Slingshot and it works about 95+% of the time. Essentially when a car in the left-most lane is traveling the speed of traffic, if you move to a different lane and speed up, they will instantly speed up to "prevent" you from passing (even if there wasn't space to pass). The great part about it is that that they always maintain the speed and you'll be able to break the traffic stalemate for that section.
Not sure if it's a psychological thing, but it fucking works and I love it.
Shit, did I miss the psychological warfare portion of Drivers Ed?
Left lane is for passing, then get right. People that don't do that cause accidents and worse traffic.
This is true when you're not in heavy traffic. Otherwise, if you're in the left lane you should be keeping up with the car ahead of you. If not, then get over. But the left lane isn't a passing lane when there's a thousand cars in front of you. Just accept that you can't pass and don't go swerving in and out of lanes to try and shave 10 seconds off your commute.
The law here in Belgium is that you can only pass on the right in traffic jams (if memory serves, under 50 km/h?).
If everybody's doing 120 km/h and everybody's queuing up in the left lane, tough fucking luck, you're not even allowed to undertake on the right. Some do it anyway but it's quite unsafe because people have a bigger blind spot to their right and also don't always check their mirrors since nobody's supposed to be sneaking up on them.
It's a subtle difference, but we have no concept of a "passing" lane. Either you're actively overtaking, or you're staying as far right as possible. Every other lane position is illegal, no ifs, no buts (except in traffic jams). And yes, that definition means that you're not allowed to loiter in the middle lane either, a concept that I find most Americans don't seem to grasp since they think only the leftmost lane is the "passing lane".
I've seen it happen so many times where I'm doing +5 in the middle lane, the left lane is doing +10, and some psycho is playing slalom because they want to go +25.
I'm with OP and revel when those sorts get stuck in a lane behind Gramma on her way to church.
Art thou feeling it now, Mr Krabs?
When the lane splits and the car in front of you moves over so you can pass, but the car behind you moves over to try and pass you on the right.
Or even better when you see the car pulled over by a cop as you pass by.
Or in a ditch when it's snowing. Couple years ago a big lifted jeep sped around me and the highway wasn't fully plowed. I had to wait all of 5 seconds to watch him lose control and veer off into a snow bank.
A luxury SUV sitting in the ditch is the indicator that the roads are icy in my area.
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Well that's one thing you don't learn about in boating school
I do my best to be a defensive driver, but there was one time a Mercedes was up my ass and I was able to keep pace next to a Caravan and effectively speed gate the two lanes. I'd be lying if I said it didn't make me smile.
Being an antagonizer makes you a bad driver just like them, best to move over and let them through.
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Super satisfying and i can't say i haven't done it too but I've learned since to never try to out crazy the other guys out there. Be careful.
